


We Hold Each Other

by HesitantlyHipsterAlien



Series: Obscure Lost & Found Ships [2]
Category: Lost & Found Music Studios (TV)
Genre: But it does now, Fluff, I don't know if this ship existed before, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, drown in the fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2018-11-14 03:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11199810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HesitantlyHipsterAlien/pseuds/HesitantlyHipsterAlien
Summary: John and Luke have been best friends since the third grade. They always come to each other for advice, and each knows exactly how to make the other one smile. They've had their difficulties, but they've always been there for each other. Even when John's tried to push every one away, Luke has stubbornly stayed by his side.Lately, Luke is acting off. He's moody. Distant. Blocking people out that he shouldn't be blocking out.John knows better than anyone that this change in Luke is a sign that something is very wrong. Luke doesn't normally behave the way he's behaving and its sending up some red flags. Luke may need help. Whether he's willing to admit that to his friends is an entirely different story.





	1. Today Sucked

"Do you really love him?"

The words make her jump. Looking at the boy sitting across from her, who stares off into the room as if his mind is somewhere else, she frowns. He was supposed to be angry, jealous. That was how this was supposed to go.

"Luke, I-"

"Its a yes or no, Leia," He says softly.

She frowns, watching him. After a moment of thought, she sighs, running a hand through her flowing chestnut locks. 

"Yeah...yeah, I guess I do..."

He nods some, his expression saying he already knew the answer to that. Running a hand through his blonde-streaked brown mop, he speaks.

"Go then. Don't stay where you're unhappy."

<<...>>

"How much do I have to give you for you to keep this quiet, Champ?" His dad asks. He's cornered Luke in the kitchen, leaving the woman, who is not Luke's mom, that he had his tongue down the throat of waiting in the living room. Shoulders tensed, Luke glowers.

"You're bribing me?"

"Yeah, how much?" His dad asks again.

Luke just shakes his head. In one sentence, the man he's always looked up to has dropped lower than dirt in his opinion. All at once, he can't stand to be in the same room as his father.

"Keep your money," He mutters. "I won't tell. Just don't talk to me. Anymore. Ever."

And with that, he retreats upstairs, slamming his bedroom door. 

Today sucked.


	2. Something Else is Wrong

The band is supposed to be rehearsing. But when John arrives to join his friends, he finds Theo quietly doodling and listening to some story James is telling, while Luke is asleep in on one of the couches in the studio.

Luke's been doing that a lot lately. Falling asleep at lost and found. And hes had a lot of weird conversations online with the guys, especially late at night. Its something that's changed and John can't help but notice it.

"He message you guys last night too or just me?" John asks, perching on the edge of the couch. 

"One-thirty a.m.," James replies. 

"Three a.m. for me," Theo says, which from anyone else would be concerning but Theo is usually up by three in the morning. He's been an insomniac since John and Luke first met him.

John nods, looking to his sleeping best friend. Luke looks drained, barely stirring even though the group is talking at their usual level. Frowning, John looks to his friends.

"Something's going on that he's not telling us about."

Theo and James look over at him. After a moment, Theo speaks. "Could part of it be from the fact that Leia's got a new guy...?"

"What?!" This is from James. "When did she and Luke break up?"

Theo shrugs. "All I know is that Leia's got a new boyfriend..."

John frowns but doesn't speak. While the Leia thing might be part of it, he knows Luke better than that. Leia is not the whole reason Luke is acting like this.

Something else is wrong.


	3. What Jon Knows

"How long have you guys been in here...?"

This comes from a very dazed sounding Luke in the middle of the group discussing song lyrics. John glances over, studying the boy who's been by his side no matter how bad things got. How bad he got. 

Luke stretches, sitting up, his usually perfect hair sticking up every-which-way, a half grin on his face.

"A couple hours," James says. "You were out cold when we got here."

"That tends to happen when you normal people run on my schedule," Theo observes. Luke scowls, tone switching to playful defensiveness.

"I wasn't up that late-"

"Three a.m, Luke?" John says, oddly quiet. Luke looks to him, then looks down at his hands, biting his lip.

"Okay...yeah...that's kinda late."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," James remarks, spinning a drumstick on one hand. "Is there any reason behind that? The Leia thing maybe?"

Luke seems a little taken aback at first, then he sighs. "So you guys picked up on that..."

"She did come into the studio with some new guy on her arm," Theo says, sounding almost a little disgusted. "They made out and-"

"Dude," James interjects, shutting Theo up. Luke simply sighs.

"Its fine...I knew she'd be coming in with a new guy. She confessed to me about the cheating last week," At his friends' shocked gasps, Luke raises a hand as if to wordlessly say 'wait, there's more'. "It had been going on for months. I think she wanted me to be jealous, but...I figure if she's happier with him, there's no point in begging her to stay."

James winces. "That's rough, bud."

Luke nods. John watches him. Theo and James might think that's all there is to it but he knows Luke. Even if a girl broke his heart, he still wouldn't be this torn up about it, even if last week was about the time that Luke first started acting weird. 

He also knows if he wants any real answers, he'll have to get Luke alone.


	4. Cornered

John looks at his phone, scrolling through the messenger conversations as he waits for Luke to finish grabbing the stuff he needs for their camp out in the van. Easiest way to get Luke to talk is to get him alone. He has to do it carefully though. If Luke feels cornered in anyway he'll panic, and from what John has seen, Luke usually shuts down completely or flat out runs, and neither are things he wants.

But he's already waited a week since the Leia break up, and Luke seems to only have gotten worse.

Sighing, he looks back at one of their recent late night conversations.

John (1:49 a.m.): Are you really still playing Serious Sam 2? Its getting late, dude...  
Luke (1:50 a.m.): i totally forgot id left that on  
John (1:50 a.m.): Sorry... were you asleep?  
Luke (1:52 a.m.): ...no...  
Luke (1:52 a.m.): i was gonna sleep like 4 hours ago but... like... i dont exactly know how to explain it  
Luke (1:53 a.m.): theres like this weird tension in my chest... and i can't think of any reason why it would be there  
Luke (1:53 a.m.): i was actually just googling the symptoms of a heart attack. turns out people our age dont have those  
John (1:55 a.m.): Shit, Luke. I know what that is.  
John (1:55 a.m.): Anxiety attacks sometimes feel like that.  
Luke (1:59 a.m.): oh... weird...  
John (2:00 a.m.): Can I call you?  
Luke (2:05 a.m.): yeah, let me just step out on the deck. i dont want to wake my parents

The hour and thirty seven minute phone call that followed consisted mainly of John talking Luke back down into calm. At first, it was just breathing exercises. Then, distraction, which consisted of John explaining a new song he'd been working on. Then, when Luke seemed calmer, John asked about what had caused it. And then, his suspicions were confirmed.

Luke blamed it on the break up, saying he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it, but he'd hesitated. And that's when John knew for certain that Luke was lying about what was really bothering him.

And it had to be pretty bad if he was having late night anxiety attacks.

The sound of Luke's front door opening violently draws his attention. Luke ducks out, his hood up, and there's a brief moment before Luke's dad comes out and he's yelling. John's focus is mostly on Luke, but he does catch something about 'I hope you know this is all your fault'. 

John doesn't wait for there to be more. He hops in the van, starting it, and opening the passenger door. Luke hops in and as soon as his door has shut, they're driving away.


	5. The Truth Comes Out

"John, pull over... please." 

John stops the van, parking it as Luke staggers out. By the time John joins Luke on the side of the road, his best friend is sat in the grass with his head between his knees, his breaths heaving in sharp, uneven patterns. John sits beside him, gently rubbing his back.

"Hey- its okay, take it easy, man, just breathe," John soothes. Luke's breaths hitch in a way that makes John wince, and then, Luke looks up and John realizes why.

Luke is crying. Luke hasn't cried since that show last year where he fell off the stage and then stubbornly forced himself to walk normal until he got backstage, then his leg gave out. He injured his knee pretty badly that day. John had ridden with him to the hospital, not wanting Luke to be alone despite hating hospitals.

Eyes widening, John wraps Luke in a hug. For a while, they just sit there, Luke doing his best to calm himself down. At some point, John starts crying too. That's when Luke pulls away, suddenly concerned. John supposes thats understandable since the last time someone was this upset around John, she had a break the same way he'd seen his mom have and John almost didn't come back to Lost and Found.

"Shit- shit, John I- fuck- I'm sorry," Luke wipes his own eyes, looking frantic as he seems to stammer for what to say, looking panicky. "I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry, I just-"

John reaches up, covering Luke's mouth with a hand. Looking him directly in the eyes, he speaks softly.

"I'm gonna take my hand away, and I want you to take a deep breath, okay?"

Luke nods, and John takes his hand away, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Luke takes a deep breath, closing his eyes as he exhales. There's a smile in the gentleness of John's voice as he speaks.

"Better?"

Luke nods. "Yeah..."

"Alright... now... what happened?" John asks. Luke takes a deep breath. Then he speaks, spilling everything he's spent the last two weeks not talking about.


	6. Secrets and Apologies

"So... your dad was cheating on your mom... and you caught him... and he tried to bribe you not to tell on him?"

Luke nods. They're back in the van, on their way to Lost and Found as it started pouring while they were sitting on the side of the road. Raking a hand through his wet mop, he speaks. "I've been trying to keep that a secret for the last two weeks but the way he went on every morning at breakfast- the way he just pretended it was normal- god, it made me so angry and then I'd spend the whole day thinking about it, but every time I thought I'd worked up the courage to tell my mom, I'd start feeling super sick at the last minute..."

"Yeah, anxiety can cause that... so did you end up telling her tonight then?"

"Sorta," Luke grimaces, an arm curling around his torso. "Turns out mom already had her suspicions. She just needed someone to confirm it. And when she asked me... I mean... fuck..."

John frowns, reaching over to rub Luke's shoulder. Luke leans into the touch just slightly, relaxing visibly.

"Dad was pissed," he adds after a few moments. "That was what the screaming match was that you saw the end of... mom wants a divorce. The douche thinks he fucking deserves better than that."

John's frown deepens as he notices discomfort cross Luke's features. Suddenly, he feels nothing but overprotective of his best friend. After a moment, he speaks. 

"You wanna crash at my place for a few days? Dad'll be around from time to time, but, he's been pretty chill since..." he trails off. Shaking his head, he adds. "He'll get it, and he'll let you stay as long as you want."

Luke seems to think about this. After a moment, he nods. "Being away from dad would be pretty great. Mom was planning to go to my aunts, but she's two hours away from here, and my little cousins are obnoxious." 

John grins, squeezing Luke's shoulder softly. "Are you feeling okay? You got really pale..."

"Yeah...," Luke nods after a moment. "I was kind of feeling sick again but its fading now. Talking everything out helped."

John nods. Then, after a moment, he smacks Luke in the arm.

"Ummm ow," Luke glances to him. "What was that for?"

"Not telling me about this two weeks ago. Or not telling the band about it when we asked you last week why you hadn't been sleeping. I seriously thought you were like... I dunno, suddenly getting mixed up in drugs or something."

Luke makes a face. "God no, drugs make people fucking hideous."

Luke's blatant statement makes John laugh. Then Luke laughs too. And for the first time in two weeks, John is a lot less worried that his friend is falling apart behind closed doors.


End file.
